Note: A series of articles about the history of the Gloucester Catholic vs. Gloucester High football games was published in a booklet released in 1993 entitled \”The Renewal of Friendship\”. This great history of the series was put together my members of the Gloucester High Alumni Association.

Unfortunately I don’t have the entire book. But over the next couple of weeks leading up to this year’s game on Thanksgiving Day I will post the articles and photo pages that are in my possession.

Artist drawing of front cover by Todd Whitten

~ Bill Cleary

Gloucester Rolls, 19-2 In \”Finale For McNally\”

1965

Jim McNally, vice-president of Gloucester High School has one an awful lot for the youth of Gloucester during his 32 years in the school system.

Well, Saturday the Gloucester football team did a little something for him.

With the inscription of \”finale for McNally\” taped across their jerseys, the Lions went out and clawed archrival Gloucester Catholic, 19-2, before 4,500 fans on the Gloucester High gridiron.

BRANDT OUTSTANDING

The game marked the last in a series which has to end because of schedule problems in the Tri-County Conference. With Merchantville entering the Tri-Co, Gloucester must schedule the Merchants and thus the \”money making\” game has to go.

Quarterback Jackie Brandt sparked the Lions victory with some outstanding running and pinpoint passing while Ed Liegrand and Joe Tomeo, together with their field general scored the touchdowns in Gloucester\’s eighth triumph in the 17 game series.

Coach Steve Shimkus, elated over the victory, had high praise for his entire team.

Jackie undoubtedly played the finest game of his career,\” Shimkus offered, \”but as it has been in most of our games, it was a good team effort by a fired-up group of fine football players.

MURPHY PRAISES GLOUCESTER

\”Make no mistakes, we beat a good football team today (Saturday) but we\’ll need a repeat performance to beat Pitman next week, \”Shimkus added.

Catholic High coach Joe Murphy, obviously disappointed, had nothing but praise for the victors.

\”They stopped us cold,\” Murphy stated,\” they did a real good job and I hope they can go all the way. An important factor was that they always seemed able to make the big third down play.\”

Gloucester had a statistical edge in all departments, 16-10 in first downs, 218-208 in the ground yardage and 58-24 in the air as Brandt connected on for of seven passes. DRIVES 80 YARDS

Gloucester took the opening kickoff 80 yards in 14 plays for a touchdown. Running by Brandt. Dave Light, Tomeo and Liebrand sparked the march which ended on a 21 yard run by Liebrand. Brandt added the PAT.

Jim Hagan recovered a Catholic fumble on the Rams\’ 30 early in the third period and the Lions drove for their second score. Brandt raced over from the eight after Light\’s running had gained 17 yards in the drive.

Catholic gained a safety when Gloucester downed the ball in the end zone rather than risk a punt early in the fourth period. This happened after Gloucester held Catholic on the one yard line.

Jim Conroy\’s pass interception set up Gloucester\’s final TD. Taking over on the 21, the Lions sent Tomeo over from the six on the fifth play.

TO BE CONTINUED……………

In the fast-paced world in which we live, it becomes all too easy for many to take our American way of life for granted. Folks just don\’t stop to think about the sacrifice that it takes to maintain our democracy.

We\’re free to worship where we chose and we enjoy the right to elect those who represent us in our governing bodies. We can shop where we please and travel as we wish. We are free to pursue our occupational goals and the education necessary to achieve those goals. We enjoy the rights of free speech and assembly and many other freedoms too numerous to list.

Our Freedoms, however, are priceless and are only secured by the men and women who serve in our Armed Forces. These individuals willingly take up arms to protect our great nation and its people from all threats. They face challenges on a daily basis that the majority of Americans could never imagine and it is only fitting that we take a little of our precious time to thank them.

This Veterans Day, numerous ceremonies will be held throughout New Jersey recognizing the men and women who have served as members of our military forces. Local Posts of the American Legion will be sponsoring many of those services and I would like to encourage our fellow citizens of New Jersey to attend such a service as a visible display of their appreciation for the men and women who have contributed so much to ensure that we may continue to exercise the many freedoms that our Constitution provides.

Richard Zalinkanskas,

NJ American Legion Commander

 

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GOLDSCHMIDT

Shelley Anne

On November 10, 2008. Age 40. Of Atco. Beloved mother of Frederick James Goldschmidt and Tyler Alexander Goldschmidt. Loving daughter of James E. (Rosaire) Goldschmidt and Juneanne Harvey. Dear sister of Kerry J. (Michael) DePietropolo, Christine (Richard) Rezer, Jamie E. Grochowski and Kelli J. Grochowski. Step-sister of Danielle (Stephen) Branco-Bonamassa. Also survived by many aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins.

Shelley was a graduate of Gloucester High School class of 1987. She was a loving mother who truly cherished her family.

Relatives and friends are kindly invited to attend her viewing on Friday morning from 10 to 11:30 am at Saint Mary\’s R.C. Church: 426 Monmouth St. Gloucester City. Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated 11:30 am in the church. Interment New Saint Mary\’s Cemetery, Bellmawr.

There will be no evening viewing. In lieu of flowers, the family strongly requests memorial donations to NAMI New Jersey: 1562 US Highway 130, North Brunswick, NJ 08902-3004. Please write in memo: Shelley Anne Goldschmidt. Funeral Arrangements and Inquiries may be made through: McCANN-HEALEY FUNERAL HOME: 851 Monmouth Street, Gloucester City, NJ. Phone: 856-456-1142.

Expressions of sympathy can be e-mailed to the family through our funeral home website www.mccannhealey.com under online obituaries of Shelley Anne Goldschmidt.

 

Thomas C. Strandwitz, age 66 of Woodbury Heights, passed away Wednesday, November 5th, 2008 at home after a long and courageous battle with ALS. Tom had been a resident of Woodbury Heights for 41 years and a summer resident of Ocean City for 36 years.

He was the beloved Principal of Oakview Elementary School in West Deptford Township for 30 years. During that time and after retirement, he served as the Coordinator of the Teacher Mentoring Program and Co-coordinator of the Math Program for the Penn Literacy Network at the University of Pennsylvania. His contributions to the education of children was immense and his life\’s work.

He was husband to Donna (nee Barton) for 43 years. He is survived by daughter, Donna L. Strandwitz-Ganter and her husband Mark of Alexandria, VA, son, Thomas C. Strandwitz Jr. and his wife Rebecca of Austin, TX, 5 grandchildren, Jacqueline, Christian, Thomas III, William and Henry, and sister, Linda Panzer and her husband Peter of Greenville, DE.

Funeral services were held at the Holy Nativity Lutheran Church, Mantua Avenue. & Lenape Trail, Wenonah.

Interment was private. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the ALS Association, Greater Philadelphia Chapter, 321 Norristown Road, Suite 260, Ambler, PA 19002.

Memories and condolences may be shared at www.smithfhmantua.com

(nee Locilento) on November 9, 2008 age 63
of Audubon Park, NJ. Beloved wife ofJoseph A. Massing Jr., for Forty Four years.
Devoted mother of Donna A. Whalen of Audubon Park, Denise Massing of Millville, Joseph A. III (Robin) Massing of Mullica Hill, Paul T. Massing ofCamden, Jeffrey Massing of Westville and Samantha Massing of Audubon Park. Loving grandmother of Eight. Dear sister of Marie Mears of Cherry Hill and beloved sister-in-law to many.
Relatives and friends are kindly invited to attend her Visitation Wednesday evening 7-9pm and Thursday8:30-9:30am at the:
MAHAFFEY-MILANO
FUNERAL HOME,11 E. Kings Hwy
Mt. Ephraim, NJ
856-931-1628
Mass of Christian Burial, Thursday, 10am at Sacred Heart Church, 7 West Kings Hwy., Mt. Ephraim, NJ. Interment New St. Mary\’s Cemetery, Bellmawr, NJ. Expression of sympathy and condoloences may be sent to www.milano funeralhome.com

Link: Star Herald –

Published with the permission of the Catholic Star Herald

Written by Monsignor Thomas J. McIntyre Thursday, November 06 2008

Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Brad Lidge, right, and catcher Carlos Ruiz celebrate Oct. 29 after defeating the Tampa Bay Rays in game five to win Major League Baseball’s World Series in Philadelphia. Philadelphia defeated Tampa Bay 4-3 to win their first championship since 1980.

In 1980, now 28 years ago, the Phillies went the distance.

Anticipating the excitement of a possible World Championship, I went to the Vet and stood in line for hours to buy tickets. I came away with two tickets for the entire post-season, including the World Series. The wait suddenly wasn’t so bad.

My next stop was 526 Monmouth Street in Gloucester City, N.J., the site of St. Mary’s Rectory. There I jubilantly announced to the late Msgr. Edward B. Lucitt that we were going to the World Series!

That was somewhat presumptive of me. I still bore the wounds of the devastating home loss to the Dodgers in the first round of 1977. I have dreams of Luzinski muffing that ball off the left field wall in the ninth inning which cost us the game and practically eliminated us from any chance of winning. Ugh!

But back to my story. \”Big Ed\” seemed as gruff as ever, but I could tell he was pleased. An ordinary game of baseball was his delight, let alone the World Series!

I thought of those days as the Phils made their way to this year’s championship. Forget standing in line for tickets. This year the little guy was shut out.

The new process was to make tickets available to partial season ticket holders.

Can’t complain about that, right? The stadium is smaller. The interest seemed greater. Except that many of those partial season tickets holders had multiple opportunities and \”hawked\” their extra tickets to fans like me at triple the face-value cost.

By the time the World Series came the ticket prices were out of sight. One guy was selling a ticket to the final game of the series for $30,000 on EBay. No wonder it rained and the game was postponed.

Meanwhile, in 1980 …

The experience of going to the Series with Big Ed was more than memorable. I shared in his memories of the Phillies in Baker Bowl – and how the soot from the trains would rain down on the occupants of the field.

I heard all the stories about Babe Ruth, the A’s, and the other heroes of those early years. Why was it the A’s were always more popular than the Phillies back then?

Which brings me to the sixth game of the series with Kansas City. The Phillies were winning in the seventh and I was growing comfortable with the modest lead and Tug McGraw coming into the game.

Suddenly, the bear emerged. \”What kind of fool are you?\” Big Ed scowled. \”His arm is tired.\”

Of course, he was right. And for the rest of the game, this gentle giant got out of his seat and paced himself up and down the steep steps of the stadium.

Big Ed always did wear his emotions on his sleeve. But was that a hint of a smile when Pete Rose managed to catch Bob Boone’s muff of a foul ball?

Finally, the Phillies did win, the fireworks exploded, Tug leaped off the mound (like Lidge did this year), and the memory of three straight losses to the Yankees in the 1950 series were left behind.

The Phillies were the champions of the world — as they are now.